Population growth slows - Consumption increases
Population growth slows - Consumption increases
Fred Pearce, in a blog for Yale Environment 360, points out that population growth has dramatically decreased over the past few years.
”A generation ago, the world fertility rate was around six kids per woman. Today it is 2.6, which is getting close to the level needed just to maintain the current population long-term. Allowing for girls who don’t make it to adulthood, that is around 2.3.”
This trend to slower population growth is indeed good news. But we still need to focus on CONSUMPTION. As countries increase their standard of living, consumption of the earth’s resources increases at an alarming rate. And who are we, (the “developed nations”) to tell those people living in poverty, that they can not improve their quality of life.
The earth can not support a universal standard of living, equivalent to what is now enjoyed by the developed nations. We must make significant reductions in our carbon footprint, reduce our standard of living - return to a simple, slower pace of life. Technology alone, will not solve this issue.
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Filed under: Climate Change
